As severe storms once again soak, twist and pelt the nation’s midsection, a team of dozens of scientists is driving into them to study one of the nation’s costliest but least-appreciated weather dangers: Hail.
Hail rarely kills, but it hammers roofs, cars and crops to the tune of $10 billion a year in damage in the U.S. So in one of the few federally funded science studies remaining after Trump administration cuts, teams from several universities are observing storms from the inside and seeing how the hail forms. Project ICECHIP has already collected and dissected hail the size of small cantaloupes, along with ice balls of all sizes and shapes.
Scientists in two hail-dimpled vehicles with special mesh protecting the windshields are driving straight into the heart of the storms, an area known as the “shaft” where the hail pelting is the most intense. It’s a first-of-its-kind icy twist on tornado chasing.
“It’s an interesting experience. It sounds like somebody on the outside of your vehicle is hitting you with a hammer,” said Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini, one of the lead researchers.
A team of journalists from The Associated Press joined them this week in a several-day trek across the Great Plains, starting Tuesday morning in northern Texas with a weather briefing before joining a caravan of scientists and students looking for ice.
Driving toward the most extreme forecasts
The caravan features more than a dozen radar trucks and weather balloon launching vehicles. At each site, the scientists load and unload drones, lasers and cameras and other specialized equipment. There are foam pads to measure hail impact and experimental roofing material. There are even special person-sized funnels to collect pristine hail before it hits the ground and becomes tainted with dirt.
Already in treks across Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, the team has found hail measuring more than 5 inches (13 centimeters) in diameter — bigger than a softball, but not quite a soccer ball. The team’s equipment and vehicles already sport dings, dimples and dents that scientists show off like battle scars.
